First of all I would like to thank all the good folk who have worked so hard to make this website what it was, and will hopefully be again. I have been spreading the word to friends and neighbours that Hillingdon Chat is back, and inviting them to post.

So, I will begin with my predictions for the weekend for London and The South East.

After what has been a mild start to winter and the New Year so far, this weekend should see temperatures falling to more seasonable levels in our region. The outlook for the next 4 or 5 days is for dry weather with a welcome increase in sunshine totals for many of us.

Im expecting daytime maximums of around 5-7c ( 41-45f ) but under mostly clear skies, overnight temperatures will lead to localised frost and possibly fog, more especially in low lying and rural areas.

In another post Kremmen mentions the fact his daffodils bulbs are showing signs of life, and this is something Ive noted from a number of weather related websites I frequent. Its almost as though the recognised meteorologically based seasons have been shifted by a month or two. I would be interested to hear other folks observations on whats happening in their gardens or locally.

The Official Met Office defined seasons for the UK are:

Winter: December/January/February

Spring: March/April/May

Summer: June/July/August

Autumn: September/October/November

Nature has a wonderful habit of ignoring all that, and does exactly what it wants, when it wants, which is why I am so interested in the weather.

The Northern hemisphere is currently experiencing one of the mildest and snow free winters on record, from the Great Plains and American Mid-West, to Northern and Western Europe and beyond. The January CET ( Central England Temperature ) is currently standing at 7.6c, against the 30 year average of 4.4c. That will no doubt change as we head into the second half of the month, and it may just be a case of winter arriving later this year. Almost a complete reversal of last years record breaking winter in fact, where the exceptional cold and snow arrived in November and December, and gave way to a mild January and February.

As always, thank you for reading, and please feel free to post your own thougts and observations.

^^ I think I need to re-instate my signature from the previous incarnation of Hillingdon Chat which was something along the lines of.......

" Dont blame me for the weather....I just try and predict it "

Edited by Moley:

All joking aside, I really appreciate the effort put in by the good folk who run and contribute to Hillingdon Chat, and I hope in my own small way I can encourage members both old and new to become involved.

As some of you already know, weather is a hobby of mine, and its always good to receive some feedback, be it good, bad or indifferent. ( Not too much bad hopefully....thank you ! ) With that in mind Im looking for some thoughts and ideas as to how I can make this topic one that people want to regularly visit and post on.

My predictions are mostly based on London and The South East for obvious reasons, but I also get involved with other weather related websites that cover events worlwide, and while theres no way Im going to make any predictions further afield, Im more than happy to have them discussed here.

So, please feel free to suggest ways to improve this topic, even if its just to post your own weather information, wherever you may be. One caveat if I may, Im far from convinced about Global Warming/Climate Change, so its not a road I want to travel too far !!

In another post Kremmen mentions the fact his daffodils bulbs are showing signs of life, and this is something Ive noted from a number of weather related websites I frequent. Its almost as though the recognised meteorologically based seasons have been shifted by a month or two. I would be interested to hear other folks observations on whats happening in their gardens or locallyAs always, thank you for reading, and please feel free to post your own thougts and observations.Moley [/quote]

Here on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, it is coolish, temperature is presently moving between 2 and 8 degrees (overnight around zero) Sunshine and little wind, Blue clear skies and little cloud. In my garden , snowdrops are out, daffodil bulbs are well away, breaking the earths surface in some areas. Willow tree has a golden sheen and the ducks are pairing up on the pond and creek running through the bottom end of the garden, early pink rhodos are in full bloom but do not like the covering of a light frost at night when the temperature dips.

I would be interested to hear other folks observations on whats happening in their gardens or locally.

Last Wednesday I had a tree blow down in my garden. I've been quoted £200 to cut up and take away.Phil

The simple laws of supply and demand at play there Phil. Last weeks widespread gales left a trail of flattened fences and toppled trees across the country, so demand went up, along with the prices to make good the damage.

Unless the damage is causing a hazard, or affecting the security of a property I would be tempted to leave it until the demand for remedial work has dropped off. In a few weeks time I suspect tree surgeons and fencing companies will be scratching around for work, and that should be reflected by lower prices.

Meanwhile the Government in South Africa have come up with a novel approach to weather forecasting :

Good grief, I hope the Admin here at Hillingdon Chat take a slightly more relaxed view of my amateur efforts.

Currently its -3.6c here in Northwood, could this be the coldest night of the winter so far in The Borough ? -3.9c on December 11th 2011 is the target to beat. Its practically tropical compared to last winter.

In addition to the 2" - 3" daffs I've noticed that my roses have been sprouting shoots almost continually since they were pruned back end of September. I may prune off the new growth later as this frost isn't helpful.

^^ I have never really got to grips with the best time to prune roses Kremm. There are so many variables, and a lot depends on the type of rose apparently. Early Spring when they would usually be budding seems to be the safest bet from what I have read.

Frost will be a factor for the next few nights, and I was quite suprised how sharp the frost was early this morning in the Borough. My AWS recorded -3.9c, but an AWS in nearby Watford recorded -6.1c and the official Met Office reading from RAF Northolt was -5-2c at 8am this morning ( Saturday ). Northolt then reported a very pleasant rise from 0.8c at 11am to 7.4c just two hours later. With clear blue skies from sunrise to sunset I thought it was a very pleasant winters days, and all the better for occuring at the weekend.

I'll be using the Met Office stats for Northolt in most future posts because they are obviously more reliable than my £60 Maplin piece of kit, and also Northolt is about the midway point in the Borough. No bias here !!

This weather pattern looks set to continue until Monday/Tuesday, then a briefly milder interlude (2-3 days ) looks possible before......well...at the moment its anyones guess as we head towards next weekend. Some hints of colder temperatures again, with sleet or snow further north and west. I'll comment on that later in the week when the picture becomes clearer.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for posting. Moley

** Old school conversions, and I mean no offence. I always preferred my weather stats that way. Times have changed !

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